It had been expected that a Responsible Officer (RO) would be required to certify, under penalty of perjury, as to compliance with FATCA. The original post describing the possible consequences to a Responsible Officer making a false certification under FATCA can be found here.

Recently, the Internal Revenue Service opened the FATCA registration system and published additional guidance. There is not a full length “FFI Agreement” as the IRS had previously stated would be published in a Revenue Procedure before the opening of the registration site; instead, the Agreement is more of a broad and open-ended certification by the RO that the FFI will comply with FATCA. This is similar to that provided in a recent draft of Form 8957. The specific certification is as follows:

Financial Institution – Agreement

I, Joe Smith, as RO for the Financial Institution, certify that, to the best of my knowledge, the information submitted above is accurate and complete and agree that the Financial Institution (including its branches, if any) will comply with FATCA obligations in accordance with the terms and conditions reflected in regulations, intergovernmental agreements, and other administrative guidance to the extent applicable to the Financial Institution based on its status in each jurisdiction in which it operates. Read More